Author: Serkadis

Some more wise thoughts on the US funding challenge, this time from Richard Benson of boutique bank Specialty Finance Group:

There’s no doubt where the Treasury will turn for finance. We are about to see the greatest stuffing of banks with government securities the world has ever seen. American banks will be forced to gorge on Treasury securities, and disgorge bank reserves. Where else can the government get the next trillion to spend on things like wars, unemployment benefits, and food stamps?

There are a few obvious things to think about here. At the rate of $120 billion a month, it will only take about nine months to blow through over a trillion dollars in free bank reserves. Each Treasury auction will find it more difficult to sell all of the treasury securities, and it will take rising interest rates to coax out even more reserves from the banks. (When you need to borrow over $4 billion a day, even a trillion dollars doesn’t last long.)

By the end of the year, when the bank reserves are used up buying Treasuries, interest rates will soar and bond auctions will start to fail. No one will have any cash left to buy Treasuries unless, of course, central banks crank up the printing presses again. Look for a QE II, QE III, and QE IV before the dust settles. Without central banks, there really isn’t any source of debt buying large enough to fund America’s deficits.

Looking in the crystal ball that reflects the truth of what our government is up to, our choices appear to be:

    * inflate, or watch interest rates soar;
    * watch interest rate soar, and inflate; or
    * inflate the money supply and ultimately drive interest rates relentlessly higher.

Either way, interest rates, particularly longer term, will constantly be pushed up, while future rounds of money printing will surely promise great inflation in the years to come. Endless deficits of this magnitude do have serious consequences.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Performance, BMW, Specialty, Racing

The BMW V10 ripped from an M5 and transplanted into a 3 Series does turn over on the first try – but then it starts to backfire. The GSR Autosport team shuts it down promptly and dials Apex Speed Technology. The engine and its related electronics are the most sophisticated part of the 350R. Its digital ECU is tasked with controlling fuel, spark, four-cam VANOS, dual drive-by-wire, electronic oil pumps and a variable-speed electric cooling fan. Without delay, the experts diagnose the problem (exhaust cams) and download a few fixes to the S85B50’s ECU. Set straight, the BMW Motorsport engine growls without a hiccup.

Once the engine is warmed, Michael Essa does exactly what most of us would do – he takes the brand-new 350R for a celebratory spin around the block at the industrial complex and does screaming donuts in the middle of the empty street.

Continue reading GSR Autosport BMW 350R: Part III – Testing, tuning and qualifying

GSR Autosport BMW 350R: Part III – Testing, tuning and qualifying originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Volkswagen acaba de publicar la información principal del nuevo Volkswagen Touran que recordemos será presentado de forma oficial en el próximo Salón de Leipzig. Los principales cambios estan situados en un mayor equipamiento y unas motorizaciones mucho más eficientes.

En el exterior, la parrilla ha sido renovada con un tono negro brillante. Además, contará con un asistente de activación automática de las luces largas llamado “Light Assist” para faros convencionales y el sistema de control dinámico de las luces largas permanentes denominado “Dynamic Light Assist” para faros Bi-Xenón.

En el interior tendremos más espacio gracias a la configuración de sus cinco plazas. Su maletero tiene una capacidad de 695 litros, 1.989 litros si se pliega los asientos de la segunda fila.

Por último, en lo referente a la motorización, tendremos disponibles ocho motores, cuatro diésel y cuatro de gasolina. Por el momento se desconoce el precio.

Related posts:

1. Primera recreación del VW Touran 2011
2. Más información del Volkswagen Golf Variant
3. Volkswagen Scirocco R ya disponible

Uno de los personajes más querido por los aficionados de la Fórmula 1 y que por circustancias bien conocidas por todos ha confirmado su regreso al gran circo para la temporada 2012. No es otro que Flavio Briatore.

El que en su día fue máximo responsable de Renault F1 tuvo que abandonar la máxima categoría tras el escandalo del caso Crashgate en el GP de Singapur. Recordemos que la FIA le impuso una sanción para mantenerlo alejado de la F1 de por vida (algo totalmente desmesurado).

“En este caso, la FIA ha sido utilizada como una herramienta de un hombre para vengarse de otro. Me echaron de la Fórmula 1 como si fuese un criminal. Nunca volvería a la F1 como jefe de equipo pero tal vez vuelva a partir de 2012 con otro rol”.

Estas son las declaraciones de Briatore al canal de televisión Sky Sport. Por el momento desconocemos que rol jugará en cuando regrese al paddock.

“Creo que podría asumir un buen papel como promotor de la Fórmula 1″.

Related posts:

1. Flavio Briatore no tiene prisa por volver a la Fórmula 1
2. Flavio Briatore podría volver (si quiere) a la Fórmula 1
3. Flavio Briatore es indultado por un tribunal parisino

More from the one, the only, Howard Davidowitz…

Optimists cheered Thursday’s stronger-than-expected March sales at retailers such as Kohl’s, Nordstrom, The Limited and even Gap as further proof of an improving economy and rebounding U.S. consumer. In fact, Thomson Reuters’ Same-Store Sales Index rose 9.1% last month to the highest level in the index’s 10-year history.

“The numbers were very strong,” admits noted cynic Howard Davidowitz of Davidowitz & Associates. “There are some positives” in consumer spending, even after adjusting for the boost many retailers got from Easter being earlier in April this year vs. last.

But (you knew that was coming, right?), Davidowitz believes it’s a “sucker’s rally” in retail stocks and any rebound in consumer spending will be short lived. “We’re in a bad place, heading for a worse place,” he says.

Regarding today’s chain-store sales data, the veteran analyst notes huge retailers were excluded, most notably Wal-Mart. “When you look at comp retail sales they don’t include the giants, they include some little dinky apparel chain doing a billion-five [in sales] and these analysts are dancing in the street.”

Furthermore, retailers such as Macy’s and Target warned the big jump in March sales would likely take a bite out of results in April, while Abercrombie & Fitch was a notable laggard in March; the Retail SPDR was essentially flat at midday.

More importantly, Davidowitz says the financial condition of the country is in “dramatically worse shape” than it was a year ago, when he was making dire predictions about America’s future.

With “no real jobs growth…deficits gone mad” and prospects for higher taxes for all Americans, Davidowitz is “exactly in the same place” as a year ago, despite the economy’s apparent revival. “There’s clearly pent up demand – there are needs [and] the consumer is jumping on those needs,” he says. “We’re in a cyclical economy. That doesn’t mean we’re better off.”

As hinted in the accompanying video, Davidowitz is highly critical of the Obama administration and predicts big political changes for America, as we’ll discuss in more detail in a forthcoming segment.

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It’s been interesting to watch the extreme arguments about the iPad fly by over the last few weeks. As I’ve said before, I think the device will sell quite well and make tons of money for Apple. I just don’t think it will “save media” the way some media companies believe. For some reason, a lot of folks interpreted this to mean that I don’t like the iPad. That’s not true at all. It looks like a beautiful device, and while I don’t see a need for one for myself right now, I could see getting one at some point. I have nothing against the device at all — and just because I don’t think it will be the savior for media companies, doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the iPad.

That said, Ed Felten, has put together what I think is the best explanation for how I feel about the iPad: it’s the Disneyland of computers. That is, “I like to visit Disneyland, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

To me, the iPad is Disneyland.

I like Disneyland. It’s clean, safe, and efficient. There are lots of entertaining things to do. Kids can drive cars; adults can wear goofy hats with impunity. There’s a parade every afternoon, and an underground medical center in case you get sick.

All of this is possible because of central planning. Every restaurant and store on Disneyland’s Main Street is approved in advance by Disney. Every employee is vetted by Disney. Disneyland wouldn’t be Disneyland without central planning….

There’s a reason the restaurants in Disneyland are bland and stodgy. It’s not just that centralized decision processes like Disney’s have trouble coping with creative, nimble, and edgy ideas. It’s also that customers know who’s in charge, so any bad dining experience will be blamed on Disney, making Disney wary of culinary innovation. In Disneyland the trains run on time, but they take you to a station just like the one you left.

I like living in a place where anybody can open a restaurant or store. I like living in a place where anybody can open a bookstore and sell whatever books they want. Here in New Jersey, the trains don’t always run on time, but they take you to lots of interesting places.

It goes on from there, and it’s about the best explanation I’ve seen. There’s lots to like about the iPad. It really does look like a great device for some stuff. But not everything — and that’s by design. Just like Disneyland isn’t designed for people to live there permanently, the iPad isn’t designed to take over all your computing needs. And that’s fine.

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Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety, Toyota

Documents that were submitted by Toyota to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in March and obtained by Automotive News reportedly show that Toyota knew of dangerous safety defects on its vehicles as early as February, 2006. The first documented issue was of a 2005 Toyota Prius that experienced floor mat interference with the accelerator. The company-supplied timeline reportedly shows that it received its first evidence of sticky gas pedals five months later, but Toyota claims that the defect was unrepeatable and couldn’t be duplicated, and the automaker reportedly opted to “monitor the situation in the field.”

Since automakers are required to issue recalls within five days of finding a safety defect, the timeline documentation seems to validate NHTSA’s recent $16.4 million fine levied against the Japanese automaker. Other documentation obtained by NHTSA and published in the Detroit Free Press includes an email from former Toyota executive Irv Miller to his superiors that shows that Toyota may have known about recall issues far earlier than the recalls were ordered. Toyota has two weeks to decide whether to fight the fine or pay up. NHTSA has been investigating the timeliness with which Toyota recalled the 8 million vehicles for floor mat and pedal sticking issues for several months.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

Report: Toyota documents show knowledge of defects in 2006 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mostrando que grande parte das montadoras estão obtendo sucesso no mercado no ano de 2010, a Audi anuncia que teve mais um recorde de vendas de veículos no primeiro quadrimestre desse ano. No total, foram 264.100 unidades vendidas em todo o mundo, o que representa um aumento de 25,9% em relação ao mesmo período de 2008, onde o último recorde da companhia foi registrado. O membro do conselho de gerência da Audi, Peter Schwarzenbauer, diz o seguinte:

“Nós esperamos continuar crescendo no segundo quadrimestre se compararmos ao mesmo período do ano passado. Alguns dos créditos para este contínuo crescimento estão na nova geração do nosso veículo mais visado, o Audi A8, que está em lançamento no momento”.

As vendas na Europa aumentaram 12%, e nos EUA o aumento foi de 34,8%, seguido da África e Oriente Médio onde a alta foi de 40,2%, e no Canadá o aumento foi de 62%. A América do Sul mostrou crescimento de 70,5% e a Ásia registrou 70% em relação ao mesmo período de 2009.

Via | Carro Online

Filed under: Performance, Europe, Lotus, Russia

2011 Lotus Elise – Click above for high-res image gallery

Particularly given its performance capabilities, the Lotus Elise has always been remarkably fuel efficient. The Elise (and its hardtop Exige sibling) have long been a rolling testament to the benefits of light weight. Thanks to a new 1.6-liter, 136 horsepower inline-four and a new lower drag nose, the European-spec 2011 Elise S is now officially rated at 46.7 miles per gallon (U.S.) on the EU highway cycle, and the carbon dioxide emissions are just 149 grams per kilometer on the combined cycle.

The CO2 number makes the Elise S the cleanest gas powered sports car in the world, and all without resorting to redundant powertrain hardware like electric motors and batteries. While sipping fuel and minimizing emissions, the Elise S still promises to rip off a 0-60 mph sprint in just six seconds and handle like a dream. That’s what a 1,931 pound curb weight will buy you. Alas, Americans will not be able to buy the 1.6-liter Elise S, as the entry level model here will remain a 190-hp 1.8-liter rated at 21/27 mpg by the EPA.

[Source: Lotus]

Continue reading The Car That Could Solve Everything: European 2011 Lotus Elise S rated at 46.7 mpg

The Car That Could Solve Everything: European 2011 Lotus Elise S rated at 46.7 mpg originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chinese trade data comes out tonight, and that’s huge given the ongoing question over yuan revaluation.

Watch out for a trade deficit with the US! But, as this chart, via Waverly Advisors shows, that’s to be expected in March because the country takes so much time off for the Lunar New Year.

Still though, the last time there was a deficit was in April, 2004.

And don’t miss: 15 facts about China that will blow your mind >

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Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, BMW

American automakers have long struggled to export U.S. made vehicles to overseas markets. BMW, on the other hand, has apparently had no such problem. After 15 years of building cars and SUVs in Spartanburg, South Carolina the company has now shipped over one million cars to overseas markets. That’s nearly two-thirds of all of the production from the plant.

When the Spartanburg plant first opened in 1994, it only built 3 series sedans. Within a couple of years, the Z3 roadster was added, followed by the original X5. Ever since the 3 was dropped from the South Carolina production schedule, the plant has been the sole worldwide source for each of the vehicles it has built – a list including the Z3 and first generation Z4. Spartanburg currently builds the X5 and X6. Late this year, an expansion of the plant will bring production of the new second generation X3.

[Source: BMW]

Continue reading BMW exports over one million vehicles from South Carolina factory

BMW exports over one million vehicles from South Carolina factory originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yahoo has long given up on any ambition to have some sort of social service, closing down or selling off anything that even vaguely resembled a social network. In fact, it seemed content with integrating Facebook and Twitter into its services and calling it a day. Yet the more features it adds to Yahoo Updates, its status update aggregator of sorts, the… (read more)

There’s huge trading volume in Yahoo today.

Anybody know why?

Here’s the chart from Yahoo Finance:

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We already wrote a detailed analysis of Clay Shirky’s recent writeup on complex business models. However, a few of you have sent over Kevin Kelly’s recent post about Shirky’s piece that also compares it to Clayton Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma, but thankfully highlights the one key line in Shirky’s piece that may have gotten lost in the original:

“Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”

Kelly calls this the “Shirky Principle.” To me, it calls to mind Upton Sinclair’s famous line:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”

They are not the same point, but they are related. In both cases, these are situations where people will often seek to preserve a problem or a falsehood, rather than recognize that it doesn’t need to be that way. There are lots of industries where this is a major issue.

But, of course, the real problem is in how they go about trying to preserve that problem. They will go to great lengths to demonize the solutions. This is why the newspaper industry has, at times, lashed out at Craigslist and Google News — two operations that have essentially removed problems that the newspaper business used to solve. It’s why old school video guys lash out at YouTube or Boxee — because they have removed problems that television used to solve. And, yes, it’s why the RIAA and the MPAA lash out at file sharing apps and services — because they have removed problems in distribution and promotion, that they used to solve.

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From Green Right Now Reports

The fast food industry is slow to get that it needs to move to more sustainable packaging. That’s the word from the Dogwood Alliance, which this week launched a public awareness effort called Kentucky Fried Forests campaign to skewer Kentucky Fried Chicken’s practice of using unsustainably sourced paper.

(Photo: Dogwood Alliance)

Dogwood, a 14-year-old group focused on saving forests in the U.S. South, reports that Louisville-based KFC is failing to protect domestic forests by using paper that does not come from operations certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC certification, used by Walmart, IKEA and other major retailers of wood products, is considered the gold standard for certification.

KFC, however, uses paper from the logging industry’s self-developed Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), which Dogwood calls a greenwashing “certification scheme.”

The SFI is “a green label on products made from business-as-usual industrial forestry practices,’’ the group says in a news release.

The group laments that only one Southern mill out of about 100 produces paper packaging that is sourced from authentically certified forests that adhere to the FSC’s stricter standards.

The nation’s Southern forests provide paper packaging for companies around the world, supplying 20 percent of global needs for pulp, paper and lumber with just 2 percent of the world’s forests. But with such low participation in the FSC’s certification program, the South is losing its forests to clear cutting for paper and paper packaging, Dogwood leaders say.

Dogwood is calling on KFC to lead the way out of this forest of destruction, because it is both a big user of paper packaging and an established Southern business.

“KFC prides itself as a southern heritage brand while it has knowingly contributed to the destruction of the natural riches within this community for decades,” stated Danna Smith, executive director of Dogwood Alliance. “It’s time for KFC to lead, and prevent these areas that have served as flood barriers, a vital source of clean drinking water and places of recreation for southerners for hundreds of years, from becoming disposable buckets for KFC chicken.”

KFC, a part of Yum! Brands, operates 5,200 restaurants in the United States and thousands more outlets around the world. It did not have an immediate response to the Dogwood action on its website. KFC did offer information about its newest product, the double-down bunless (but not paperless) chicken sandwich, which is served without a bun. The buns will be donated to charity as part of the “sandwiches” promotion.

Dogwood, meanwhile, has its sites on the KFC buckets, which are more emblematic of the packaging involved in fast food.

It chides KFC for getting its packaging source material from International Paper, which it says also uses the deceptive SFI certification to mask destructive forestry practices.

“IP has long been associated with the worst forestry practices, including large-scale clearcutting and the conversion of diverse natural forests to sterile mono-culture plantations,’’ the group reports.

IP reports on its sustainability webpage that “our company has been one of the most environmentally responsible companies in the world. We have always taken a sustainable approach to business that balances environmental, social and economic needs. This approach has served our company and society well.”

IP also defends its use of the SFI certification, saying on its website that: “Our company supports the existence of multiple certification standards to increase the amount of certified fiber and the concept of mutual recognition, which acknowledges that responsible forest management can be achieved through a number of credible certification systems.”

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

I had been thinking about how this week’s mine accident that claimed 25 lives is just one more way the true cost of coal is being revealed.

Coal is only cheap if you fail to factor in the loss of life, the long-term human health effects, the environmental devastation both in the immediate area of coal mining, the regions near coal-fired plants and finally, to the Earth’s atmosphere. Do these costs need to be more far-reaching before we face these facts?

While I was thinking along these lines, Lester R. Brown’s column on just this point arrived. We’ve printed his book excerpt about how to tackle this problem of assigning reality-based costs to fossil fuels. In this piece, Brown, the founder of Earth Policy Institute, discusses how our lawmakers could stage in these real costs by taxing dirty fuels in much the same way we, finally, taxed cigarettes to take into account the horrible human toll of tobacco use.

Even today, the now fairly high cost of a pack of cigarettes doesn’t approach the even higher public health costs exacted by smoking. Coal taxes could not be expected to suddenly cover the full breach between today’s price and one that covers coal’s damage. But they could begin to address this inequity, and in the process the money raised could be used to lighten the tax burden for individuals. But I’ll let Brown explain more about the tax shifting policies that are already working elsewhere.

And if you’re thinking, well that sounds good, but what about our dependence on coal? We need the electricity. I agree, we surely do. Coal supplies nearly half of the electricity used in the U.S. That’s got to be taken into consideration. Americans aren’t ready to wake up tomorrow and turn the furnace off, or walk around in dark houses without TVs and working appliances.

But we’ve got to start the transition. Like a smoker, to beat that analogy into the ground, we’ve got to get a nicotine patch. We’ve got to get beyond coal, which is the single biggest contributor to greenhouse gases worldwide.

Smoking comes to mind here because we still have an estimated 1,500 miners dying every year from Black Lung disease. In their case, though, this degenerative lung condition is an unavoidable occupational hazard.

Today a different story came out that raises some hope. The American Wind Energy Association reported that despite one of the worst economic downturns in decades, wind power continued to grow rapidly in 2009, with a robust diversification of the industry and workforce spreading across the nation. (Of course, some of the projects were running on plans put in place before the collapse.)

Wind now provides nearly 2 percent of Americans’ power, with other renewable energy sources (including solar, biomass, wood and geothermal power) supplying another 1.8 percent of the energy we use. The rest of our energy comes from hydropower (which can be characterized as clean, but not as much as wind and solar), natural gas, nuclear power and King Coal, which provides 45 percent of our energy needs.

What can an individual do to help change the mix, to push it toward renewables? Two things come to mind. You can check your power provider and see if they have a clean energy option, or switch to a clean energy power provider. Options are growing almost daily, and chances are that the costs and choices have improved since you last checked.

Make that three things: You can also consider reducing your own consumption with on-site wind or solar power, or through efficiency measures.

Finally, if you want to advocate for clean energy, let your elected officials know you support a federal Renewable Electricity Standard. A RES is under consideration as part of the energy bill pending in the U.S. Senate. It would mandate that the nation derive a certain percentage of its power from clean, renewable sources like wind and solar and geothermal facilities. The numbers haven’t been finalized yet; climate/energy legislation that passed the house targeted 20 percent renewable energy by 2020. Some argue that interim goals need to be set, like reaching 10 percent renewables by 2012 (which would not include hydropower). But let’s not get lost in the details here.

A RES sends a signal to industry, financiers, governments, educators and the world. It would keep America in the hunt for clean tech, and clear the path to the future. Instead of marking time until the next coal tragedy, the next mountain top laceration, the next alert that greenhouse gases are rising, we’d be moving in a positive direction.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

In a little meeting with the press last week, President Obama said that contrary to his request, his presidential Cadillac limousine will not be going hybrid to save planet Earth.

“I asked can we make these cars hybrids,” Obama said at a town hall in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Secret Service said no. Now, the reason is not because Secret Service are bad guys. It’s because the cars that I’m in are like tanks.”

Basically, Obama’s limousine weighs about two to three times more than a normal car. Meaning that if it’s attacked, a hybrid system wouldn’t provide enough performance in terms of acceleration over a standard gasoline engine.

The Obama administration announced last week that they have purchased more than 5,000 hybrids as a part of the federal fleet – 100 of them being the Chevrolet Volt.

Source: ABC News

Late Thursday night the U.K. Parliament passed the controversial Digital Economy Bill, which grants the U.K. government sweeping new powers to control access to the Internet.

The Digital Economy Bill has been the subject of heavy entertainment industry lobbying and widespread concern amongst U.K. citizens and telecommunications companies because it included provisions that would allow the U.K. government to censor websites considered “likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright,” and disconnect the Internet connection of any household in the U.K. with an IP address alleged to have engaged in copyright infringement. Despite the many concerns expressed with the Bill’s provisions, including questions by some Members of Parliament about whether these provisions could be used to block access to the Wikileaks website, the bill was rushed through Parliament — apparently with several amendments that we’re still assessing — after only two hours of debate in a special late-night “wash-up” session.

If you’re in the U.K., we encourage you to join the Open Rights Group’s campaign and express your views to your MPs now. You might also want to switch to an Internet Service Provider that understands the implications of the Digital Economy Bill and is willing to commit to protecting your civil liberties, like Talk Talk.

Like it or not, Google Chrome proved to be quite a revolution in web browsing, despite its many initial flaws and shortcomings, and most competing browsers borrowing a thing or two from it since then. And the trend continues: Mozilla seems to be taking more and more cues from Google Chrome.

The idea for th… (read more)

The inimitable Howard Davidowitz on whether he has been completely wrong over the past year and whether America is in the midst of a glorious recovery:

Retail analyst Howard Davidowitz of Davidowitz & Co. has always been one of our viewers’ favorite guests. Howard’s flamboyant bearishness won hearts and minds all through the financial crisis, and we–and you–never get tired of hearing from him.

But Howard has been bearish for a year now–all through one of the most amazing bull runs in history.  Against all odds, the U.S. economy appears to be gathering steam by the day, charging out of the worst recession since the Great Depression and heading toward a strong recovery.

So what does Howard think about that?  Has he changed his tune?  Was he completely wrong?

NO WAY!!!

In Howard’s view, nothing has changed.  Howard thinks the U.S. is still careening down the road toward a hell of fiscal instability, over-indebtedness, ballooning budget deficits and interest payments, and declining living standards.

The U.S. is broke, Howard says.  The current “sucker’s rally” will end up like all the sucker’s rallies that have tormented Japan for the past two decades.  It will be a false dawn that will momentarily distract everyone from the enormous fiscal challenges we face … and then reality will take hold again.

We won’t be able to get out of our pickle without tremendous pain, Howard says.  The American people are figuring that out.  And the American people won’t stand for the status quo anymore.

Earlier:

• Retail sales up but America in “dramatically worse shape” versus year ago
• Wall Street-D.C. bigwigs “buried our country … sold us down the river,” Davidowitz says

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